


The Hate Peter Conference

by Kanikiri



Category: No Fandom
Genre: Distrust, Hate, Original work - Freeform, Other, fake friendships, high-school psychopaths, planned murder, popularity isn't what it seems, what am I doing with my life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-09
Updated: 2018-03-09
Packaged: 2018-08-30 02:46:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8515585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kanikiri/pseuds/Kanikiri
Summary: Have you ever hurt someone so bad that they wanted to kill you? Even start a group for people who despise you to do it? Peter Matlock did.





	1. Let's Kill Peter Matlock

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Bukhara](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bukhara/gifts).



"Murder is born of love, And love attains the greatest intensity of murder."  
-Octave Mirbeau

     Peter Jose Matlock sat in the back row seat next to the window. History class was such a bore. A week ago he was an average straight-A high school student with nerdy glasses. Now, he's Peter Matlock, the most popular guy in school. Peter looked out the window to see the girl who'd made all this possible, Karin, sitting on a bench in the schoolyard. His teal blue eyes remained on her fine cheerleader self until the end of his final class for the day. As soon as the bell rang, he grabbed his black backpack and slowly but steadily made his way through the growing crowd of people in the hallway. When he opened the doors, Peter noticed two other boys following him, he turned and realized it was his best friends, Noah and Ethan. Noah and Ethan were desperate to talk with their friend, Peter had been ignoring them since this whole 'popularity' thing started.

"Uh, Peter?", Ethan nervously brushed his chocolate brown hair out of his face.

"What?", Peter irritably responded.

Hurt flashed on Ethan's face as Noah continued his statement,

"We just wanted to know if you could hang out this weekend?"

Peter turned and faced them both, "No.I can't.",then stormed off in the same direction.

The two brunetts stood where Peter had left them, wollowing in self-pity and anger. Peter had become Mr. Popular, he didn't have time for two nerds like Noah and Ethan. Noah looked at Ethan and said,

"Maybe we can ask again next week?"

Ethan kept his head low and answered,

"No, our Peter doesn't exist anymore."

______________

About a month after Peter became popular, he'd cut off all communication with Ethan and Noah. They were none of his concern now, he had the cheerleaders' squad leader under his arm, and enough friends to fill a small village. Peter sat and talked with his so-called friends at lunch. One football player snickered and stated,

"Who cares if my grades are falling. I'd rather flunk than be one of those big glasses, straight-A, nerds."

Another added,

"Yeah, there's so many dorks at this school."

Peter felt inclined to join,

"Y-yeah, but none are as big a dorks as…"

,Peter didn't know if he should continue, 

"Ethan Johnson and Noah Adams."

The everyone sitting at the table stared at him with confused faces until his girlfriend, Karin, asked,

"Babe, who are you talking about?"

Peter thought quickly,

" Well…you see Ethan and Noah are two nerds who-

______________

"He said **_what_**?!", Ethan practically screamed at the freshman. The small boy stuttered,

"H-he did s-spread those rumors about you g-guys. I-im not making t-this up. It's all o-over the school."

Noah put his hand over his mouth,

"I can't believe he'd make up all those stories about us."

Ethan clenched his fist and replied,

"I can."

Noah's eyes followed the freshman's feet as he walked away when Ethan continued,

"Do you wanna get revenge?"

Noah kept staring at nothing in particular,

"Hmm, Why not."

Ethan gave him a sadistic smile,

"We can kill him."

Noah looked up in shock,

"W-what?!"

He always knew that Ethan was a bit crazy but…was he serious, actually _kill someone_? Ethan put his hand on his cheek, pupils dilated inside his dark brown eyes and spoke,

"Yeah, it will be beautiful, too. The way we'll do it, we can be mad scientists, using explosions and chemicals. But don't worry Noah, we won't do it alone. Peter hasn't been on the school's throne long, and people already hate him. Besides…"

Ethan removed his hand,

"It won't take much to completely ruin him…" .

Now Ethan was completely hysterical,

"And heck, he might even take his own life before we can."

Ethan seemed to come back to reality and asked the other brunette,

"So?"

Noah looked like his brain had completely shut off.He moved his eyes to stare at Ethan,

"Let's kill Peter Matlock."


	2. Join the club? Eh, why not.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ethan and Noah have trouble with the president of the garden club.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha, forgive me Peter I posted this as quickly as I could!

                                                       "Murder is born of love, And love attains the greatest intensity of murder."

                                                                                                                          -Octave Mirbeau

 

 

"I don't know if this is a good idea…"

 

Noah stated as he stood awkwardly peeking out of the crack in the door.Ethan ignored him as he continued rummaging through the teacher's desk inside of the science lab.

"Ah-hah!", Ethan exclaimed as he triumphantly held up a folder.Noah continued watching for any signs of someone coming and waved at Ethan to hurry.After several moments of flipping through papers, Ethan finally found what he was looking for.Gazing at the paper with dark eyes he studied all the different plants listed on the page.Taking the paper and placing everything the exact way it had been before he had come, Ethan and Noah hastily exited the room as normally as they could.

 

______________

 

"Please, Tess."

 

The thin, stalky girl remained still, arms crossed, resting all her weight on her left foot.She sneered, "Uh-huh, and what exactly do you need it for?"

 

Ethan stared back at her, thinking, "I-I need it for, uh, I want to do some experiments with organic medicine."

 

Tess wasn't convinced. She straightened her glasses, "Don't lie to me Ethan Johnson, I'm onto you. I know that Aconite can be used to make poison."

 

Ethan gave a nervous chuckle, "Poison? You're always one to think like that aren't you Tess? What in the world would I need poison for anyway?"

 

Noah butted in, "Maybe we want to join the garden club so we can run our…", he hesitated, " _'_ _experiments'_ without any distractions." 

 

Tess grimaced once more and took a piece of paper from the clipboard she'd been holding.She handed one to Ethan, along with another for Noah while adding, "Just have your legal guardian sign this and you're in.Even if you are joining for purposes other than gardening, it will be nice to know what you two are planning."

Ethan scratched the back of his head, "Planning? Heh, don't make me laugh, Tess; we aren't planning anything." Tess raised an eyebrow at the two responding, "Yeah, sure you aren't, Ethan."

 

______________

 

Footsteps and Ethan's whistling filled the empty street.Noah walked in his normal, cowardly, hunched over, arms crossed position.Ethan the opposite; standing tall, hands stuck casually inside his pockets like he had nothing to hide.

 

"Bad idea…"

 

Ethan looked down at the smaller boy as they walked and asked, "What?"

 

Noah's eyes stayed directed towards the ground, "This is a very, very bad idea."

 

Ethan smiled, unnerved by his friend's lack of faith, and told him, "Don't worry about it, dude.I got this.Look, if things go south I'll take the blame.You're going to be fine so stop stressing, yeah?"

Noah walked in silence for a moment before nodding his head and answering, "Y-yeah, ok."

As the two approached Noah's small, worn down house, Ethan pulled the garden club registration papers out of his backpack and handed Noah one.Throwing his backpack back on Ethan continued, "I would stay, but I have a lot of…things to do.See ya' tomorrow."

Noah gave a small wave.Ethan smirked as he traveled further and further away from his only friend,

 

                                                                             "Yes, there are many things left to do."


	3. This Is War

"Murder is born of love,  
And love attains the greatest intensity of murder."

-Octave Mirbeau

 

 

"Are you ready?",

Ethan enthusiastically asked Noah, holding his head up like he'd just won a prize at the county fair.

"Yeah!", 

Noah responded with much more excitement than he'd had the day before, 

"Our first attempt at killing Peter!"

Ethan smacked his hand oven Noah's mouth making an intense "shh" sound.Noah brushed Ethan away saying, 

"Ah, sorry, sorry!" 

The rest of the time they waited for the bus in silence, Ethan hoping that none of the other teenagers had heard Noah. Luckily, no one made it apparently known that they'd been listening and Ethan thanked Deus.The bus made an awful screech that made Ethan and Noah, as well as a few of the others, flinch as it pulled up next to the sidewalk.Ethan scowled, 

"They're never going to get that stupid thing fixed, are they?" 

Noah shrugged, 

"They probably will sometime."

Ethan face-palmed adding, "You're too optimistic."

 

______________

 

"Aconite, one of the deadliest poisons that can be found at your local school. It will be your demise, Peter Matlock.", 

Ethan smiled as he held up a small bag of the crushed up plant. He looked at Noah. "Did you bring it?", 

he asked. 

"Yep.", 

Noah answered, pulling a packet of ranch out.

"Perfect.",

Ethan grinned as he took the dressing and tore it open. He quickly poured in the aconite. Noah watched and questioned,

"He won't notice it in the ranch?" 

"I'm pretty sure I crushed it up small enough to look like part of the ranch…"

When Ethan finished mixing in the poison he smiled at Noah.

"Now,"

he began,

"We just need to find someone stupid enough to take this and give it to Peter…" 

He looked around. 

"There," 

he pointed, 

"That one." 

Noah looked to where he was pointing and saw a large, tan, jock. 

"Henry Mackabee?", Noah asked.

"Yep, he's definitely our best option." 

Ethan stepped out from behind the wall and walked over to the intimidating form of a human being. 

"What, pipsqueak?",

Henry asked in a joking manner. Ethan was irritated, but held a smile,

"Um, will you give this to Peter Matlock, please." 

Henry raised an eyebrow, 

"And why would I do that?" 

Ethan stuck his hand inside his pocket, pulled out a twenty dollar bill, and waved it in front of the jock. Henry smiled,

"Hm, I wouldn't want to upset a small fry like you." 

He snatched the money and the ranch out of Ethan's hand. Ethan smirked and quickly walked back towards Noah. 

"Now, you can take care of getting the ranch Peter brought out of his lunchbox, right?", Ethan asked.

Noah nodded his head. Ethan patted his shoulder, 

 

"Good, cuz' I have a feeling this ain't going to be as hard as I thought."

______________

 

"Crap.", 

Peter stated,

"I forgot ranch.",

Peter scratched his head,

"I could've sworn that I put some in here…"

"Here, I'm not going to use this.",

a jock boy named Henry handed Peter a partially opened packet of ranch.

Peter grinned and quickly snatched the ranch out of the other boy's hand.

"Thanks, now I won't have to eat a dry salad."

Peter was about to pour it on his salad when he noticed something green on the inside of the package that shouldn't have been there. He raised an eyebrow, putting one finger inside to grab some of the foreign substance. After he got some on the tip he rubbed his thumb and forefinger together and smelled it. His eyes immediately widened. He could feel his heart beating at what felt like a million miles per hour, and could no longer hear anything besides his own pulse. 

'Aconite.', 

he thought. He tried to nonchalantly look straight up, then scope out the large lunch room. 

'Someone,' 

Peter's breathing became heavy, 

'Someone is trying to kill me!' 

He continued to scan the room and his eyes soon met a familiar blue pair. Ethan was staring right at him, smirk ever so apparent. He looked almost like he was victorious over a fight, and he was waiting to be declared the winner. Ethan's smirk grew as their eyes remained locked, as did Peter's fear. Peter slowly looked back down at the pack of ranch he was holding.

'Oh my god,'

he thought,

'Ethan was going to kill me. This wasn't a prank. I…I was going to be murdered. Just one gram of Aconite would cause death from paralysis of the respiratory center.' 

Peter's lip was twitching and the boy who'd given him the ranch noticed and asked,

"Hey man, you ok?" 

Peter held up the ranch, 

"Where did you get this?"

The boy scratched the back of his head,

"Uh, some nerd told me to give it to you." 

Peter scowled,

"And you took it?!"

Henry smiled, 

"Yeah, uh, he seemed chill."

Peter frowned and concluded, 

'No doubt that this was Ethan's doing. Crap, he probably has Noah helping him, and god knows who else. If I'm going to survive, I'm going to need someone smarter than these idiots I've surrounded myself with. When Ethan learns that this attempt failed, he's not going to be happy. He'll definitely try again. I can't go to the teachers either, I have no proof that it was Ethan, and I'd be dead by the time they figured it out. I have to protect myself from this…this…Hate Peter Conference and group that Ethan has created. I refuse to die, I won't give him the satisfaction of killing me. Bring it on, Ethan, this is war.'


	4. Armies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry I took so long, Peter....

                                                                                                    "Murder is born of love,

                                                                                 And love attains the greatest intensity of murder."

                                                                                

                                                                                                                                  _-Octave Mirbeau_

 

 

 

"Help me.",

 

Peter sounded more desperate than he'd originally intended to. Tess held the scowl that was constantly plastered on her face, he was sure, twenty- four seven. She crossed her arms,

"Tell me, Mr. Matlock, what would _I_ gain from helping _you_?"

Peter frowned, he new she would ask, but he'd hoped to come up with something before she did.

"Um…",

he began,

"I guess… popularity?"

He awkwardly grinned, hoping she'd take it without any further questions. She glowered, tapping her foot as if she was irritated,

"Uh-huh, and what would _that_ gain me?"

The sarcasm seemed to fall from her lips like a fountain. Peter scratched the side of his cheek with a single finger,

"You want to be acknowledged, don’t you? You want people to listen to you and do what you say. Power, Superiority, followers, you can have all of it."

Tess's eyes widened and she stood up straight, holding her clipboard tightly against her chest instead of letting it rest against her side. No one would believe him if he said she almost smiled.

"Ok",

she sighed, trying to act disinterested,

"I'll help you. Just tell me what you need."

 

Peter smirked, "I need an army."

 

______________

 

 

Noah stood, face palming, while Ethan threw one- now two chairs across the room. Ethan continued his rampage around the living area while screaming,

"Why!",

 **bam** ,

"Didn't!",

 **crash** ,

"It!",

 **bang** ,

"Work?!".

Noah shook his head, growing tiresome of Ethan's tantrum.

"Well..",

he began,

"I did say something about Peter noticing the Aconite, didn't I?"

Ethan growled, "How could he have known?! It was perfect!"

Noah sighed,

"Peter is smart. In fact, he's the smartest person in our entire school. We can't just throw some poison in something and expect it to work, we need a plan. A big one. Preferably one that involves more people than just us.'

Ethan's teeth grinded as he stared at Noah,

"And what do you suggest we do?"

Noah smirked,

"Well, we could start off by talking to all the people that hate Peter. Maybe they'll be interested in helping us."

Ethan raised an eyebrow, adding,

"Yeah. Maybe. We'll need to make sure we can trust them first though."

"Well duh.",

Noah rolled his eyes,

"I'm not stupid."

Ethan laughed,

 

"I wouldn't be so sure…"

 

"H- hey!"

 

______________

 

"You know, I never expected two people as smart and sly as Ethan and Peter to clash heads. Especially considering how close of friends they used to be.",

Tess tapped her fingers against her desk. She squinted as she stared at the computer screen, the only thing illuminating her dark room. The voice that came from the skype call was husky and toneless.

"You're only using him, correct?''

Tess grinned, holding one hand against her chest,

"Of course, you know I'd never do something unless it benefitted me."

There was silence until the hoarse voice spoke again,

"What you do doesn't concern me unless it could get you killed. I'm trusting you with this, but he's dangerous. Be careful."

Tess sighed,

"I know, I know."

Then heard the beeping that signaled the conversation had ended. She rolled her chair away from her desk a few inches, opening a drawer and grabbing a small notebook. She picked up her pencil and began to write names down.

 

"If you want an army, Peter Matlock, I'll get you an army."


	5. Morning blues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mostly just a drabble of a morning routine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Be More Chill has been on my mind for weeks. More Than Survive has kept me on my feet.

                      "Murder is born of love, And love attains the greatest intensity of murder."

_-Octave Mirbeau_

 

 

  _"Please! Stop!",_

_his muffled, desperate cry left Ethan hesitating. The sight of a beaten and bruised boy gave him a sense of dread. His head throbbed, presumably the beginning of a headache from all the kid's screaming. Ethan growled, squeezing the boys face tighter between his fingers. His teeth grinded. The boy tried kicking at him, only to be met with the hard, rough edges of cement as he was thrown to the ground. The kid scrambled to get up, his creamy blonde hair swaying with the movement. His teal eyes, so usually a reminder of better times, filled to the brim with fear. Ethan reared his arm back, wanting the boy to feel the pain he felt inside physically. He reckoned he was exactly like a witches cauldron, but instead of the ingredients for a potion boiling inside of him, the only thing he felt was his complete, unadulterated hatred. He couldn't hold back his fist... Or the words..._

_"I hate you, Peter Matlock!"_

 

______________

 

 

The ceiling. It was what Ethan was most often met with after what seemed to be the recollection of past memories. But unfortunately, what he had seen was not the memory of a past event. It seemed to be a nightmare. Ethan's breathing was heavy, his body shivering, his clothes drenched in sweat. He threw his arm over his face to block the sunlight from its direct path to his eyes. He groaned. The sweet chorus of bird songs collected on the tree outside like a sugarcoated alarm. Ethan sighed before forcing himself to sit up, clenching his jaw in disgust at the feeling in the pit of his stomach. He threw his arms over his head, stretching. He rolled his eyes, sarcastically cheering, "Hm, good morning. Time to start the day."

Ethan jumped out of bed and peeled soggy clothes off of his body. He grabbed new ones and quickly slipped them on. He rushed downstairs where he was met with the end of a frying pan in his face.

"And where do you think _you're_ going in such a rush?", his brother looked down on him with a scowl. Ethan rubbed his forehead. "Hey, c'mon, Zack. That's probably going to leave a bruise.", he whined. "Good", Zack sneered, pointing to the kitchen, "Now get in there and eat. I made breakfast." Ethan rolled his eyes, "Ok, _mom."_ Zack flinched, ready to backhand his brother,

 

"What did you say you little twerp?!"

 

______________

 

 

"C-C'mon. C'C-mon! Go! Go!", Ethan shivered, yelling at his legs, encouraging them to move fast enough to make it to the bus before it left. He glanced up to see the usual crowd of people and sighed in relief. The bus hadn't even gotten to the stop yet. He slowed down to a jog and kicked up snow when he stopped next to Noah. "What up, loser?", he gave his normal greeting. Noah shrugged. Ethan threw his arm over the smaller boy's shoulders, "Hey, don't be like that. Give me a greeting. Pretend that you like me." Noah uncrossed his arms and let them dangle loosely at his sides before spitting out a "fine." and began, "Woah! Hi Ethan! OMG! Did you, like, _totally_ hear about Rich burning down his _own_ house? Like, that's _totally_ cra cra. Huh, _gurfrand_? He wasn't even high or drunk. Totally cra cra." Ethan lowered his eyelids, giving Noah a look of reproach. Noah shoved his friend away, "Don't give me that, you said to act like I like you." Ethan blinked.

 

"Yeah, I said to act like you like me, not act like a moron."

 

"Rude."

 

 ______________

 

 

"Peter."

 

He felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned over in his bed sleepily, unable to focus his vision in the person who had interrupted his sleep. "Yes?", he replied questioningly. "We're going to be late for school."

He laughed and reached for his glasses. Assuming the person to be his mother, he snapped, "Heh, you're funny, you don't go to school. By the way, your voice sounds scratchy. You might be getting sick." He slipped the vision aid on and looked up at the person. He jumped back, pulling the blankets over his bare chest.

"T- Tess?!"

He clenched the sheet in his hand tightly, turning his knuckles white. "How did you get in?", he growled. She tilted her head back in a superior manner, "That's not important." Peter slammed his fists down against his lap, letting his covering fall away,

"It's not imp-" 

"What _is_ important is this."

Tess cut him off, tapping a single finger against her clipboard. Peter raised an eyebrow, "What's that?"

She spun around to face his door, and giggled, "Get dressed, come downstairs, and I'll tell you." He grimaced, "Fine." Tess skipped and opened the door, leaving much faster than she had come. Peter scratched his head, she was acting weird.


	6. Every Day May Not Be Good

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, This chapter's pretty short.

"Murder is born of love,  
And love attains the greatest intensity of murder."

-Octave Mirbeau  
   
It wasn't hard to suspect or deny the fact that the infamous Ethan Johnson hated Peter Matlock.  
Without even trying he made it blatantly obvious. The little things, such as the killer glances and angry looks, where not ones easy to miss or ignore- never mind the wrecking of an entire classroom. Noticing the sudden shift in Ethan's attitude and aura, the other students of Westbury High added it into their invisible planner  
( unless they were Tess and actually had a real daily planner ) to stay away from the boy. And he resented them all for it. Ethan brushed his hair back with his hand, closing his eyes and sighing. He slowly lifted his eyelids to stare at the clock to his left. His attention was caught by the so called "encouraging" posters that were randomly scattered around it, lazily gazing at them for several minutes. He read the biggest and brightest one:

EVERY DAY MAY NOT BE GOOD…  
BUT THERE IS SOMETHING GOOD IN EVERY DAY

Ethan sneered, turning back to the paper in front of him. A pop quiz. Crap. He hesitantly read the first question… Something about physics. The blonde exhaled loudly and crossed his arms, leaning back in his chair. He'd been too busy worrying about killing his ex- best friend to study. He tilted his head back and groaned. The girl next to him, Susan was her name- he thinks, shushed him. He rolled his eyes and picked up his pencil, writing his name at the top of the page. It was the only question he knew the answer to. Ethan jumped when the teacher suddenly stood up, "Time's up, class. Pass your papers to the person in front." He tossed the paper to the girl at the desk in front of him and nearly caused her to drop the neat stack already collected by her. The blonde jumped out of his seat, face red with anxiousness. He barely had his backpack on and ran out the door, receiving strange and annoyed stares from the other students. One specifically, Mason Gillard, was in a particularly bad mood. Ethan hadn't made it three feet out the door before his arm was caught in a startlingly strong hold. He whipped his head around to see his captor. Ethan's otherwise happy look had quickly been distorted and changed into something quite passed pissed off. The blonde tried pulling his arm away, "Let go, I'm in a hurry." Mason just smirked, grip faltering in a teasing manner before tightening harder than before. Ethan winced.

"Let him go, Mason."

Ethan knew that voice. He turned. The familiar locks of creamy blonde was the only thing he needed to see. Peter.  
   
   
______________  
   
   
"Mason Gillard is a jerk, Tess. Don't even suggest him."  
   
Tess held out a hand, gesturing for a more plausible reason as they walked. She did a half-eye roll at him and smirked. "He's not a jerk. He's…" she began, pausing for a moment so she could find the right word,  
"Special."  
Peter let out a burst of laughter, nearly choking on his own spit in the process. He never thought Tess could make him laugh. She furrowed her brows in anger, standing up straight and fixing her glasses.

"It doesn't matter if he's a jerk! He'll do what you want, no questions asked."

Peter sneered and raised his eyebrows, "Yeah, he'll also spill everything no questions asked if we get caught."  
Tess glared in silence at the blonde. Peter had used that as an excuse, but he was really thinking about the events that had happened only a few hours ago. He hated Mason for bullying Ethan. Gillard had never bothered them before, but it seemed word of Ethan's anger issues had spread around the school like wildfire and Mason wanted to see how easy it was to get him riled up. Peter hated people like Mason Gilland. Maybe it was the loser in him that knew the struggle of bullies, or just the sheer ( impossible, as Peter considered it ) fact that Ethan was still his friend deep down in his heart. He didn't feel like telling Tess, or himself honestly, the real reason why he didn't want to ally with the tyrant of 11th grade.

Peter later found it a lot harder to find people to help him. Despite going out of their way to stay  
neutral, most of the other kids wanted nothing to do with Ethan and Peter's "war." Being labelled unnecessary, ridiculous, and downright absurd by both teachers and students alike. Many had taken the issue to the principal, which said that without any "real threat" of someone getting hurt, he couldn't do anything about it. And that was the end of it. It's not that Principal Neslon didn't care, he just genuinely believed that the two causing it would just wake up one day and see that the whole feud was preposterous. It was the sad, and stupid, truth.


	7. An Uncomfortable Truth

Noah felt a cold, slender hand on his wrist. Jumping, he turned to face whoever it was. He ignored the sliver of fear creeping up his spine. Tess smirked, stopping, resting her weight on her leg and putting a hand against her hip. "Paranoid much?" she said, giggling. Noah felt uncomfortable around Tess without Ethan, and that feeling wasn’t going away now. He avoided making eye contact and instead looked at the ground.

"Yeah," he began, feeling suddenly in a hurry to leave, "you got me."

Tess raised an eyebrow. Looking up again, Noah rubbed the back of his neck, "Um.. I have to go home now, mom's waiting for me." A lie. A believable one he supposed. He held up the groceries in his hand.

"I uh, gotta' get this back so she can start dinner."

A quick "bye" was mumbled as he walked around her. To his dismay, footsteps started behind him. Noah internally groaned before quickly glancing back, trying to think of a way to get her to leave him alone. He saw her for only a brief moment before his vision was blocked by something much bigger- much darker than himself. The force around his arm made him release the bag from the store. He was pulled up against someone before a cloth was shoved into his mouth and against his nose. His futile attempt to not breathe ended in failure. He threw his free hand upwards in a random direction and felt someone's face. Not caring who it really was, he dug his long fingernails into what he hoped were the person's eyes. He heard loud cursing before his arm was taking hostage like the rest of him. Noah's world was getting blacker by the second. The last moments of consciousness were filled with the killing realization that no one was going to stop what was happening. 

 

It scared him almost to death.

 

______________

 

Ethan found himself on the edge of his roof. The house seemed so much taller from the top. He covered his face in

 his hands. "Bastard!" echoed throughout the neighborhood. Ethan couldn’t help but scream it. He dug his fingernails into his scalp and crouched, too consumed by malice and confusion to realize the tips of his shoes hanging over the edge. Shouting wasn't fixing his problem. The problem that had been following him for weeks. The problem that he assumed had no solution. The problem that Peter wouldn't get out of his thoughts. His brain had come up with an answer that seemed days ago stupid, but today, completely possible. Ethan paused, staring at the ground far below without an inkling of fear. His body was frozen- his mind had hit the power button.

 

“Jump.”

 

_What?_

 

______________

 

The past few weeks were hell. 

 

The terrible two, Ethan and Noah, hadn't made another move. And it made Peter nervous, let alone paranoid as hell. He was always checking behind him in empty hallways, looking around rooms before he entered them, and giving every meal a cautionary sniff before digging in. It felt almost different for Ethan, like the war was a game of some sort. A game that could very easily kill either of them.

        One evening, Peter lay on his bed. Plans filled his head before leaving as quickly as they had come. Nothing was working! It had been weeks since anyone had seemed even remotely interested in his cause. Feeling hopeless, the thought of his best friend- no, his _ex- friend_ slipped into his mind. He called it a moment of weakness before shaking his head to clear his thoughts. It worked. For a moment. Peter covered his face with his pillow, contemplating screaming, which he didn’t do. He let the pillow fall beside him. Ethan, with his short, perfectly styled hair and those somber, captivating blue eyes made the blonde's face change a dark shade of red. Turning to his side, Peter gripped his chest, pulling the fabric so hard the thought of it ripping didn’t seem nearly impossible. He lowered his eyelids, tears stinging the corners of his eyes. "Stupid…" he whispered, "He's so stupid." Emotions were swarming inside Peter like bugs around a lamp. Anger. Hate. Regret. He turned to his other side. His body felt like it was on fire. The room! The room felt like it was getting smaller! Sadness. Loneliness. Depression. Peter wiped the sweat off his face. It hurt to move. The grip on his chest loosened a bit. He felt a little colder. But his body still screamed at him in pain. His mind continued yelling in anguish, _"What are you doing? Don’t hurt him! He's your-"_ He's my what? His brain never got that far. Warmth. Happiness… Peter sat up suddenly. He felt like he'd just solved the world's hardest question.

                                        

                                                                                **Love.**

 

What Peter Matlock was feeling… was love.

For a while, the blonde hadn't been able to even consider the thought of having a real war with Ethan. And remembering that Ethan thought of their feud as such made his heart ache. He caught himself wandering back to an event some time ago. The day he saved his… friend from Mason Gillard.

 

  _He looked up to see the giant jerk with his fist clenched around Ethan's seemingly frail arm. He hadn't known the boy to be weak, but compared to Gillard, he looked like a toddler. He saw other students stopping to look, only to move on after a slight chuckle or snicker. No one moved to help Ethan. The sight made Peter sick. The two were saying something to each other. For a brief moment, Mason let go of the smaller's arm before tightening once again. Ethan's eyebrows furrowed a bit and he winced in pain. Ethan's face contorted to be only a look of agony. His arm was held unnaturally with the threat of breaking. Peter couldn't take it. "Let him go, Mason" had escaped from his mouth before he could even comprehend the thought. Mason turned to look at his opposer in annoyance._

 

As the memory continued, Peter's hand moved to wipe the newly formed tears off his cheeks. He missed Ethan- He missed Noah. They were the three musketeers of their own world.

 

_Ethan seemed hopeful for a split second, before his brain registered who his savior was. Peter felt like a car door had shut on his soul._

 

Peter hesitated, the slow burn of rage seemed to grow in him- " _How dare he look at me like that!"_ Peter internally cried out, _"I was helping him!"_

 

_His face seemed to melt into disappointment._

_Peter's confidence fell into the pit of the stomach._

 

Shit.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Believe it or not, my friend Peter suggested this.


End file.
